SEO for Lawyers & Law Firms

What is Search Engine Optimization?

Search engine optimization is the practice of driving targeted traffic to a website via the organic search results on Google, Bing and various smaller search engines. Organic results are the most trusted and the first choice of 70% of searchers on Google. With at least 5.5 billion searches done on Google each day (as per Search Engine Land in 2016) and over 2 trillion searches per year, it’s crucial your law firm has a strong search presence in Google.

The Search Engine Optimization Process

More than ever, in 2019, search engine optimization is a process and has to be considered at every step of your website’s development. The speed of your website, having the right calls-to-action in right places, the development and path of your content and the visitor flow through the website are all core development points your search engine optimization team should be involved in.

Even before your new website is launched, your SEO team will make it a priority to:

Learn about your law firm and what about your brand we can leverage as well as what cases are most important to you.

Do keyword research to find the most important keywords and topics your law firm’s website should be focused on.

Do competitive research to determine your competitors’ priorities and what is and is not working for them.

Work with our content team to create content that speaks to your firm and your brand.

An incredible creative design & development team with extensive experience in the legal vertical. One of our best SEO professionals is on the development team to ensure that SEO is accounted for at every stage.

What Do Organic Search Results Look Like

Organic search results are the primary target of search engine optimization and are probably the part of the search results page you find yourself gravitating towards. These results generally look just like the paid ads above them, but without the little “ad” box. Depending on your query, you may also see a local search results box as shown below (learn more about local search).

How Does Google Determine Your Organic Search Placements?

Google uses a variety of methods to determine your website’s rankings. There are thousands of different considerations and thousands of updates every year, large and small. Some mainstay ranking factors are:

Content Relevance to the Search QueryThe most important and fairly obvious factor is making sure the search queries you are targeting are found in your content. If you don’t have the right keywords in place, you probably will not rank.

Page SpeedPage speed has become a larger and larger ranking factor, especially since the mobile-first update. Your website be fast on all devices including desktop, tablet and mobile as well as a variety of browsers including Chrome, Firefox, Safari & Edge (formerly Explorer). Google and your users don’t want to waste time on slow pages. Slow load times are among the biggest reasons potential clients leave your site. Digital Law Marketing uses content delivery networks (CDN), image optimization, CSS/Javascript minification, caching and more to make sure your website delivers a fast experience on all devices.

Link BuildingThere is a big myth going around the search industry that says, “don’t build links.” The correct mentality is “don’t build links with the intention of manipulating Google.” There is nothing wrong with placing your business on relevant directories and the local search giants (Yelp, Apple, Bing, etc.). Without a foundation of links in place, your content will rarely rank at all, making it very hard to attract “real” backlinks. Link building has changed fundamentally over the last 3 years as has our understanding of the widely misunderstood nofollow attribute and its correlations with PageRank and performance. (Hint: NoFollow doesn’t mean No Value.)

Structured DataWhile not a direct ranking factor, structured data is here to stay. Structured data is another word for the markups that Digital Law Marketing search engine optimization professionals use to help the search engines better understand your website and market. We can use various markups to help Google determine what type of content you are presenting them, who the author is, who it is meant for and more.

LocationWhile not a core ranking factor, location and user data also play a role in the rankings you see. The variances here are normally greater when no geographic region is specified (ex: “personal injury attorney”).

What Does Digital Law Marketing, Inc. Offer Your Firm?

Digital Law Marketing, Inc. always remembers we are here to service you. With Digital Law Marketing, Inc. you can expect phone calls and e-mails to be returned promptly (almost always the same day). You can expect custom reports put together by the search engine optimization specialist on your account, and access to custom Google Data Studio dashboards when requested so you can see how well your website is performing. We offer exclusivity in your marketplace to make sure that you aren’t spending money for us to compete against ourselves.

We make sure to customize your package to meet all of your online marketing goals. We know there is no such thing as effective one size fits all SEO.

An Integrated Marketing Approach

Search engine optimization is one component of an online marketing campaign. Our objective for every client, is to develop a strong digital footprint for your law firm. Our SEO specialists are experienced working hand-in-hand with other advertisers you may work with including:

Television Advertising Companies

Yellow Pages

Magazine or News Advertising Companies

Third Party Marketing Consultants

Call now and schedule a free consultation

If you are looking to improve your website’s search engine optimization performance or would like to know what Digital Law Marketing has available in your area, give us a call at 877-916-0644 now.